Gender: Male
Height: 5 feet 7 in
Weight: 150 lbs
Age Range: 16 - 23
Physique: Athletic
Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: Short
Eyes: Brown
Ethnicity: Latin/Hispanic

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Betsy (née Verne), a poet, author and editor, and Doug Franco (1948–2011), who met as students at Stanford University. His maternal grandmother, Mitzi Levine Verne, runs the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland. Franco's father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco's mother is Jewish (a descendant of immigrants from Russia). Dave grew up in California with his two brothers, Tom Franco and James Franco. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked him and his brother, James, Number 2 on its list of “the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish men in the world."

In 2006, Franco made his acting debut on The CW Drama television series 7th Heaven. He has since appeared in television shows such as Do Not Disturb and Young Justice. Franco has also had noticeable roles in films such as Superbad, Charlie St. Cloud, 21 Jump Street, Warm Bodies, and The Shortcut. In May 2008, he was cast in The CW teen drama television series Privileged. The series centered on a live-in tutor for two spoiled heiresses in Palm Beach. Franco was cast in an initial major recurring role. The series premiered on September 9, 2008 to 3.1 million viewers. Ratings continued to slip each week with the series sixth episode reaching 1.837 million viewers. The CW did not renew the series for a second season due to low ratings.

In August 2009, Variety announced Franco was cast in a regular role for the ninth season of the ABC Sitcom series Scrubs. Franco portrayed the role of Cole Aaronson, a medical student, whose family paid a large sum of money to Sacred Heart Hospital to receive an internship. Franco went on to appear in all thirteen episodes of the ninth season and received praise from critics for his performance. ABC announced the series would not be renewed for a tenth season therefore Franco would not reprise his role of Cole.

MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named him one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011. In August 2011, Franco starred in the 3D Horror Comedy film Fright Night alongside Colin Farrell and Toni Collette. The film is a remake of the 1985 film of the same name and follows a teenage boy who finds out his neighbor is a vampire. Franco played the role of popular high school student Mark. The film received positive reviews from critics and went on to make over $41 million worldwide.

In May 2011, Franco starred in the Columbia Pictures action comedy film, 21 Jump Street as Eric, a high school student and the lead dealer of the drug. The film was based on the 1987 television series of the same name and was released in March 2012 to critical acclaim and box office success. Franco has denied rumors he is involved with the planned sequel.

In 2013, he co-starred in the zombie romance film Warm Bodies, as Perry Kelvin. The film, an adaptation of the best-selling novel Warm Bodies, followed a romance between a zombie and a human during a zombie apocalypse.

Also in the same year, Franco appeared alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, and Isla Fisher in the ensemble crime thriller film Now You See Me. To promote the movie, he was interviewed on the Bob Rivers Show, based in Seattle, Washington. Rivers persuaded him to show the card-throwing abilities he had learned; Franco expertly sliced half a banana into a further half with his hotel card.